I Wish I Had A Penguin, ring

Penguin March, necklace

Swimmer, ring

Noakes happened upon a few miniature figures and a book about resin at the same time. It was enough to trigger her imagination and before long she was on a roll combining the two, setting them into silver and creating little worlds to wear. The jewelry is lighthearted and fanciful and I love the way she adds text to the silver. Don’t you think the words enhance the whimsical nature of the pieces?

Swimmers, bracelet

Polar Cube Necklace

Easy Tiger, necklace

Synchronized Swimmers, necklace
(click image to really see the swimmers)

Helen Noakes’ website

Gilded Fade, acrylic paint & acetate
approx. 13.5″ x 20″ x 1″

Deep Sea Fade, acrylic paint & acetate
approx. 13″ x 12.5″ x 2.5″

Wouldn’t it be glorious if we could view our own sagging and stretching skin as part of the creative process of a life unfolding?

Medical Fade, acrylic paint & acetate
approx. 13″ x 17″ x 2.5″

Passion Fade, acrylic paint & acetate
approx. 13″ x 17″ x 4″

Bloom Fade, acrylic paint & acetate
approx. 19″ x 13.5″ x 3″

The skins bring to mind slices from polymer clay mokume gane slabs.

Money Fade, acrylic paint & acetate
approx. 14″ x 22″ x 1″

Firework Fade, acrylic paint & acetate
approx. 12″ x 17″ x 1″

“In each Fade, the acrylic paint fades from color to color through the built-up layers creating a gradation. Referring to film and video editing, the fade is a transitional device starting or ending a scene or cross-fading between scenes. Like all things—both ‘good’ and ‘bad’—even transitions end and something new begins. I wanted to meditate on and embrace the certainty of change. Through its impermanence and imperfection, my work reflects on cycles in life as well as cycles in art.”

The images in this post are from the Fade collection. The complete portfolio, which includes two Contortion collections, also boasts a 3D collection, where Scheifele uses the debris from the carvings, explaining: “In the spirit of ‘using every part of the animal,’ the acrylic paint chips are collected in boxes where more time must elapse before they fuse into porous cubes.”

You can easily see the scale of the skins in this image

Wolfson never puts people in the scenes but he wants you to have the feeling that someone was just there, adding tiny tell-tale signs within each piece – a tip on a table in a restaurant, graffiti on a subway wall, garbage on the side of a street.

“Writers have said that my work creates a safe way of being a voyeur.  There’s something mysterious and intriguing and even attractive about those environments, but I don’t know how comfortable most people feel in them in real life.  Creating them gives me a window into them but also allows me to maintain control over them; I can have the experience of having been to these places without having to confront the people who inhabit them.”

He gives just enough to begin the narrative and expects you to complete the story – Wolfson wants you to be involved; wants you to reminisce; wants you to create the dialogue.

The quarter in the image above shows how small these scenes are. . .

An urban landscape can take up to 18 months to complete and Wolfson has a rule – a self imposed rule – that he must make every piece of the scene, including lighting and graphics.

“I usually work in ½ in = 1 foot scale, which is half the size of dollhouse scale.  The first few pieces I did were in dollhouse scale, but I decided to change to the smaller scale so I could build more intricate environments in the same-sized space.  I also find the smaller scale more “intimate.”  If I’m building a view out a window, that would be built at a smaller scale than the room interior to force the perspective.”

Canal Street Cross Section

The images in today’s post are from Alan Wolfson’s Canal Street Cross Section, a scene that depicts three levels of a Manhattan street. It is his most ambitious undertaking to date.

Watch the video below to learn more (NOTE: Although the sound in the video is fine, the timing is slightly off)

Alan Wolfson’s website, where you will find many more images of Canal Street Cross Section and more than four dozen other urban landscapes – including several diners and Nathan’s, Coney Island (that’s for you mom!).

More about Canal Street Cross Section here

(via)

Carved Flower Ring, sterling silver, tagua, India ink

Seed Pendant, sterling silver, fine silver, gold fill, resin

McBride combines traditional jewelry techniques with a love of experimentation and her collection of natural artifacts to create an evolving collection of jewelry. She’s one to watch.

Shell and Silver Disc Bracelet, sterling silver, shell, resin

Serpentine Molecule Earrings, sterling silver, serpentine, fine silver

Evening Stars, silver, resin

Inspired by what she describes as ‘the delicate hand of Mother Nature”, McBride splits her time between her beloved homeland of Ireland and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Carla Pennie Mcbride’s website

Tribe Cane Necklace, mixed plastics, oxidized silver

Siblings III, mixed plastics, oxidized silver

Minus Cuffs, rubber, nylon, oxidized silver

SoHo Bracelet, mixed plastics, oxidized silver

Trace Bracelet, rubber, nylon, oxidized silver

Scout & Jem Pendants, mixed plastics, oxidized silver

Pierced and Pieced Rocker Bracelet, rubber, nylon, silver

I’ve discovered a kind of poetry in every day materials, images and objects that often seems absent in traditional jewelery. The subversive act of rescuing materials destined for the dumpster motivates me further or simply repurposing various found goods. Taking the time to craft orange peels, cheap plastics, spent inner tubes and other odds and ends into “gems” intended to adorn the human body — where gold and diamonds are the tradition — or sometimes combining ordinary and/or waste materials with traditional precious materials, brings tension to the completed works.

The California based artist holds a Master of Fine Arts degree with a concentration on Metalsmithing and Jewelry Design and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a focus on Painting.

Mary Donald’s website